So we move on into May and despite the drought warnings it seems to be colder wandering about than it was in January. However, this time of year does mean the rally season starts and one of the earliest transport events was at Carlton Colville, where RTL453 operated having just received its new engine and gearbox and having been repainted only days before. As soon as it arrived back though it was made ready for signwriting for period adverts and I thought a shot of it with first layers on would be interesting without giving to much away!

Meanwhile the Southdown TS7 continues to take shape with the reframing of the offside largely complete and the rear end now being tackled. Fortunately the nearside is much better and only the door area and one pillar need to be replaced on this side. Hopefully therefore the reframing of the cab can start in earnest in June, following Tony’s (whose baby this is) holiday. We have also worked out how to reinstate the long since closed shut sliding sun roof and thanks to some of the original parts being returned to us by a previous owner, for which we are very grateful for. As to when it will be ready… I dont usually stick my neck out but I think we are going to be very close come the end of the year, lets hope I havent now jinxed it.

The other major project that inches ever closer to completion and really has been the problem child of bus restorations is the Cub that Pete has been working on now for longer than he cares to remember. The wings have needed to be adjusted to ensure a good fit and thus allow us to put the bonnet area together, once this is completed we can finally start on some proper road tests. All that though however was reliant on finding a front wheel, which took some time and I am delighted to say eventually ended in a successful conclusion and is now fitted, which is a huge relief as that was starting to look like it would be the major bottleneck. Next on is final adjustments and then its time to fit the headlights.

So that’s the progress on the major projects this month which I think overall has been really good. Added to these is obviously T499 which has progressed really well this month and RTW335 and MD60 which have also made progress. Lets hope 2012 sees some of these back on the road after extensive restorations and increases the number of roadworthy types of our vehicle heritage that can be seen out and abou

Cheers for now

Steve

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The next full scale project is the Southdown TS7 DUF179 which has been undergoing a major strip down to rectify the rot. The nearside is not in bad shape whereas the offside requires the replacement of all the pillars. Throughout this month we have been stripping this down and just today ‘the tide has turned’ and the new pillars are being cut in readiness to being fitted. The two shots below show the various stages of the strip down.

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In amongst the rotting pillars on the rear we found this name inscribed into one of them, can anyone shed any light on who J. Pavett was? Is that from its days in preservation or does it date back further?

And here are the six pillars being readied to be added to the offside and start seeing us putting back together some of what we have had to strip off.

Meanwhile taking shape up at Busworks Blackpool is our RTW335 which is now ever nearing completion and the progress can be followed directly on the RTW335 blog, which can be seen at http://rtw335.blogspot.co.uk/

And the reason that the Cub has not featured this month is that we have been working on RTL453 to start getting her all set to take her place in the Wartime London Tour fleet, that starts operating on April 3, have a look at the website if you are wondering what I am talking about www.wartimelondon.com and whilst out having tacho fitted a careless truck driver damaged the rear end… This has needed to be tackled and a new pillar fitted as well as the panels, it has however meant that the vehicle will now need a full repaint and we will also now add signwritten adverts to her for the late 1940s so she will end up looking special, so every cloud and all that… Apologies for not having rotated the photo as I am damned if I can find the rotate button on this new blog feature so will get someone to explain it to me…!!

And lastly up is RTL1014 that returned to us after 45 years in California. The vehicle was sold by our Chairman here Peter Newman way back in 1967 and he delivered it to the docks at Southampton for its new owners UniTrans at University College Davis. They have owned, operated and loved the vehicle all that time and due to Californian emission regulations RTL1014 became an outcast from their fleet as she still has her original engine, so we acquired her back. She sailed back on the same shipping line she went out on, came back to the same port, and was collected by myself and Peter, bringing the story full circle. I commented to him as he got out of the cab back at PT ’45 years and you got the bus back, must be a record breaking period for a money back guarantee!’ The intention will be to restore to London 50s condition but preserving her 45 years of US service… looking forward to that one…

So thats it for the month

Cheers for now

Steve

Perhaps not the most exciting of views or jobs but clearly the point of this blog is to show some of the work that goes behind the scenes to put and keep these vehicles on the road. So we decided to take a look at ourpre war Southdown Tiger, which is a lovely vehicle and could be ‘bodged’ to get a season or two more out of her but in reality requires some pretty decent sized reframing to bring her back into the land of the healthy and secure the future. It would seem that this bus having passed througha few hands has put off people tackling the work as clearly one job here is going to lead to another. The shot above shows the emergency door that was already hanging at a slant and with a window that would not open or close was the first thing we decided to look at. As feared the wood was rotten in 75% of it, and where it had been repaired many of the repairs were done in poor quality wood, so we rebuilt it….With new framing, the right sized screws (as they always get longer when the rot gets worse and was what was blocking the window from opening) the door is just about done. Now whether this is our next large scale project is still up for debate here but either way when you take something off to inspect it, the very worst thing you can do is not repair and refit it, as things left to one side for ‘later’ generally have a nasty habit of being mislaid and thus causing more work later. Personally I really like the vehicle and can imagine that with a good quality repaint on a decent flat surface the coach could be made to look wonderful. That said I will have to do some homework on Southdown paint colours and liveries as its not my strong point and there are at least five different shades of green that I have counted on her thus far. If anyone out there can help on these  be great to hear from you?

And off site the 10T10 progresses really well but we still tackle many parts of it from here. This is the front axle (lying next to the Cubs new bumpers) that has required a lot of work on it to free it up, fit new bushes and bring it up to PSV standard. It is now complete and ready to go back and be reunited with the bus itself which progresses well and I will update on next month. The target date for it being ready is July next year which would mark the 75th aniversary of it entering service at nearby Grays depot, which is surely an aniversary we just cannot miss… or will we?

Lastly, is another one thats come back to life. Our ex JMT Tiger had an engine failure last year. For some time she sat and waited whilst we looked to find a replacement which was duly delivered and fitted, and runs like a dream. Whilst we had the bus in bits we have taken the opportunity to reline the clutch as whilst not worn to its limits it was getting low and with whats shaping up from the bookings thus far to be a busy season as well as some of the buses being used on the new London Wartime Tour, have a look at www.wartimelondon.com it was prudent to tackle the job now we felt.

The Cub now is also back with us having been away for some further work on its engine, which in due course has shown up some other minor system problems associated from it now running under its own power, but we are getting ever nearer with that, and now that I think I am mastering this new format, I will endeavour to do a more detailed update next month.

Cheers for now

Steve

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